Steve Masiello will not be the next men's basketball coach at USF because the school discovered he never actually graduated from the University of Kentucky (UK).
Ashley Caressen, a spokeswoman for UK told ESPN a background check found Masiello never graduated, even though his resume indicates he did. Masiello is currently the coach at Manhattan College and the team's website also says he is a "2000 graduate of the University of Kentucky with a degree in communications."
Masiello did not respond to requests for comment, but Caressen said he spoke with UK's registrar's office, but the conversation was "confidential."
UK's office of public relations confirmed to the Tampa Bay Tribune that Masiello was a student there from 1996 to 2000, but he never received a degree.
Masiello served as Rick Pitino's assistant at Louisville from 2005 to 2011 and became the coach at Manhattan in 2011. He also played four years of basketball at UK and one season was even under Pitino. The two reportedly have a close friendship and faced off in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with Louisville taking the game.
"If it's accurate, I'm shocked by it," Pitino told ESPN. "I had no idea. I left the previous year, and he was on track to graduate."
Not even Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich, the man who would have been responsible for hiring him, knew Masiello never graduated.
"I knew [Coach] Rick [Pitino] was comfortable with him," Jurich told ESPN. "He played for Rick, and Rick knew all about his background."
Masiello met with his team Tuesday to tell them he was leaving for the USF job, the Tribune reported. It is USF's policy that head coaches have bachelor's degrees. Now his job with Manhattan is uncertain.
Neither USF nor Manhattan ever officially confirmed the deal, but multiple reports indicate it was all but completed.